Yield: 16 slices

Chocolate Stout Cake Recipe

A slice of chocolate cake with cocoa powder-dusted caramel buttercream on a blue plate with a fork.

Rich, moist chocolate stout cake made with white and brown sugar, chocolate stout beer and a touch of espresso powder is the best.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup stout or other dark, malty beer
  • 8 oz. butter (2 sticks)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c. plus 2 TBSP sour cream or creme fraiche
  • 2 cups all purpose flour (9 oz)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder

Instructions

  1. Set a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350F.
  2. Line the bottom of a 9" x 3" push pan or springform pan with a circle of parchment. Spray the parchment and the sides of the pan with pan spray. Set aside.
  3. Put the stout and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until the butter is melted. Stir and let cool slightly.
  4. Whisk together the eggs and sour cream. Set aside.
  5. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  6. Sift the cocoa powder into the stout mixture and whisk until combined and smooth.
  7. Whisk in the granulated sugar, the brown sugar, the vanilla, salt, and espresso powder (if using).
  8. Add the egg/sour cream mixture, and whisk well.
  9. Dump in the flour mixture and whisk/stir until mostly smooth. A few tiny little lumps are okay.
  10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
  11. Bake for about 50 minutes, carefully rotating the pan after 30 minutes if your oven has hot spots.
  12. The cake is done when the top springs back when gently pressed, when the sides are just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, and when the internal temperature of the cake reaches 200F.
  13. Remove to cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
  14. Turn the cake out (or take of the sides or push down the sides, depending on your pan), and wrap well in plastic wrap.
  15. Refrigerate the cake until cold.
  16. Torte (split the layer in two) if desired and frost with dark caramel buttercream.
  17. Store leftovers in the fridge, but let the cake return to room temperature for serving so the frosting and cake will have the best texture.

Notes

You can also make this cake in 2 9" x 2" pans if you'd like to make a classic layer cake without having to torte your layers.

Nutrition information is calculated for 1/16 of the cake without frosting.

Q & A

What’s the best stout to use?

Guinness and Murphy’s, both Irish stouts, are great choices for making a stout cake. But with the proliferation of craft breweries in this country, your choices are almost limitless. Consider a milk stout, which is nice and creamy. We used Left Hand Milk Stout back when I made this for the restaurant. For this particular cake, I chose BearWaters Brewing Heavy Cream Stout, a North Carolina beer with a low ABV of 5%. This stout also features notes of espresso and chocolate, which made it perfect in the stout cake.

What other kind of beer can I use?

Stout really is the best choice, but if you can’t find any, you could also use a dark porter. Stay away from hoppy beer like an IPA. It’ll make the cake read as bitter.

I don’t drink beer. What can I use instead?

If you don’t want to use beer, substitute a cup of strong coffee. You can leave out the espresso powder unless you want the cake to be more of a mocha cake. It won’t have quite the complexity of a stout cake, but it will still be one excellent chocolate cake.

Can I freeze my chocolate stout cake?

Yes. Freeze it before you frost it. It will already be wrapped in plastic wrap from cooling it, so you can then wrap it in foil and freeze it for 4-6 weeks.

What frosting goes best with stout cake?

I have seen stout cake served with everything from just a dusting of powdered sugar to chocolate frosting to whipped cream to cream cheese frosting to Bailey’s frosting. Any of those options will work just fine. I do encourage you to make the dark caramel buttercream that I developed especially to serve with this cake. The frosting by itself is not very sweet and doesn’t necessarily inspire bowl-licking, but on this cake, it is heavenly.


Frosting Options

I developed the burnt caramel buttercream specifically to go with this cake. You can find that recipe here.
For a more "approachable" buttercream, consider making my fluffy caramel frosting. You can find that recipe here.
Or let the cake do all the heavy lifting and frost with a creamy, not-too-sweet ermine frosting, which is more widely known as red velvet cake frosting. It also happens to be one of my favorite frostings for any chocolate cake.

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 304Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 57mgSodium 303mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 1gSugar 24gProtein 4g

The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only.